Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

Hutong Tourism Development 
In Chinese, Hutong literally means a narrow laneway and street that is lined by courtyard houses. Hutong 
lanes provide shelter from the wind and give a strong sense of privacy to Hutong areas. A more colloquial term, ‘the 
Hutongs’, refers to entire neighborhoods of houses in the low-rise traditional style. The Hutongs once dominated 
Beijing’s cityscape and provided an attractive ‘low rise’ background to the imperial Forbidden City. The Hutongs is 
one of the important characteristics of the city of Beijing. To old Beijingers, the Hutongs are always associated with 
the nostalgia feelings and possesses a great amount of intangible heritage value. The Hutong lifestyle has a long and 
ancient tradition, and is widely regarded as an essential element of Chinese culture. The culture and heritage 
embodied in the Hutongs is evoked in stories, customs, ambience and lifestyle engendered by the physical setting.
Prior to 1949, it is estimated that there were 11 million square meters of the Hutongs around the Forbidden 
City (Wu, 1999). The Beijing Municipal Place Name Office noted that the 3,200 Hutongs
 
recorded in 1944 had been 
reduced to 990 in early 2002, still with their original names. A series of events led to this disappearance of Hutongs. 
The upheavals of the Cultural Revolution permitted unplanned development, which affected the integrity of the 
Hutongs (Wu, 1999). The current rush for modernization, related to the 2008 Olympic Games, is considered as the 
latest threat to the Hutong area (South China Morning Post, 2002). The relatively undeveloped state of the remaining 
Hutongs in Beijing provides both tourism appeal and, at the same time, a justification for widespread urban 
development due to problems related to the Hutongs, such as traffic congestions caused by the narrow lanes of 
Hutongs.
The following delineated the initiatives and coverage of responsibilities of various stakeholders in their 
development of the Hutongs as tourism products. Problems in their tourism development pursuit were also presented 
at respective parts of the case. The stakeholders represented the public sector, the private sector, the non-government 
organizations and inter-government organizations, and the Hutong resident community.